Anna Netrebko

“Once again, Netrebko was fabulous... With her charisma and her flawless technique, she was the star of the night. Whether singing Mimě, operetta by Kálmán or Offenbach’s Barcarolle, she was simply a dream.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

Almost 15,000 people gathered at the Königsplatz in Munich on Saturday 27 June for an open-air concert headlined by Anna Netrebko. The great Russian soprano was joined by fellow opera superstars Jonas Kaufmann and Thomas Hampson for an event certain to live long in the memory. These three exceptional artists performed arias, duets, trios and set-piece scenes from operas by, among others, Puccini, Tchaikovsky and Verdi. The thrilling Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov and the young mezzo-soprano Elena Zhidkova, already in demand at the world’s leading opera houses, completed the evening’s majestic solo line-up.

Munich’s Summit of the Stars flowed naturally from Anna Netrebko’s thrilling Königsplatz appearances in 2005, 2009 and 2011, events that set benchmark standards for the popular presentation of classical music to a massive audience. This year’s concert was broadcast by ZDF on Sunday 28 June, reaching millions of television viewers and creating an important record of a landmark occasion.

Anna Netrebko’s Verismo, scheduled for release this November, will soon be recorded in company with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Antonio Pappano. The new album includes arias by Puccini, Leoncavallo, Ponchielli, Boito, Giordano and Catalani, ideally matched to the soprano’s charismatic artistry, spine-tingling vocal powers and readiness to take daring risks in pursuit of profound expressive truths.